Increasing foundry and materials costs are prompting some major IC vendors in Taiwan to decide to raise their product prices in fourth quarter of 2021. In China, many components makers are being affected by the Chinese government's decision to cut power supply to industrial users in line with its carbon reduction policy. PCB suppliers will find out this week whether Apple will increase or cut orders for the iPhone 13 series.

Taiwan's PCB makers in the supply chain of iPhone 13 series are set to know whether Apple will cut or increase orders during the last week of September, but most of them are optimistic that additional orders will come from the US vendor, according to industry sources.

India has seen record growth in smart TV demand and large investments in the green energy sector. Government subsidies have attracted 19 firms, mostly Indian, to invest in solar energy.

Smartphone sales were strong in Indonesia in second-quarter 2021, with Xiaomi being the top selling brand. while Apple fans in Thailand will receive their new iPhones earlier than usual this year. And Malaysia will have new digital banks next year.

AMD and MediaTek are said to be seeking to form a joint venture that will develop notebook applications integrating Wi-Fi, 5G and high-transmission technologies. Other chip vendors in Taiwan are also hoping MediaTek to play a leading role in the local supply chain to compete with Qualcomm in the mmWave 5G market. In the EV market, Thailand has ambitious goals for its car manufacturing sector.

Taiwan's makers of RF and PA devices hope MediaTek can lead the local supply chain to meet competition from Qualcomm in tapping the mmWave 5G market, according to industry sources.

The global cellular baseband processor market grew 16% on year to US$7.2 billion in the second quarter of 2021, according to Strategy Analytics. Qualcomm capitalized on iPhone 12 design-wins and mid-range Android momentum to capture 52% revenue share during the quarter.

Speculation has been circulating in the chipmaking market that AMD and MediaTek are in talks to form a joint venture that will be dedicated to developing SoC solutions combining Wi-Fi, 5G and high transmission technologies for notebook applications.

Suppliers said demand from Chinese handset vendors is getting opaque in September, portending possible deferral of peak demand and possible decline in suppliers' revenue for the second half of 2021.

While Vietnam is slowly reopening from lockdown, foregin companies find themselves in need of new suppliers, and local workers are unwilling to return to work posts in the city just yet.

Since the 1970s, Taiwan and South Korea have been parallelly developing semiconductor and new-geneation IT industries. The national conditions and industrial strength of the two countries are very similar. During the Cold War, Taiwan and South Korea were part of the first island chain facing the communist world. Now the US and China are rivals that compete head to head with not only weaponry, but also the strength of the technology industry, the most representative of which is the semiconductor industry and the ubiquitous supply chain. About 60% of Taiwan's and Korea's semiconductor exports go to China. In 2020, China imported as much as US$350 billion of semiconductors, with about half of them from Taiwan and South Korea. Taiwan and South Korea both export enormously to China on the one hand, and vie for the industry leadership position on the other. South Korea specializes in memory, but Taiwan's industry structure is more diverse: wafer foundry, IC design, packaging and testing. Taiwan and South Korea dislike each other but also rely on each other.

Taiwan-based chipmaker MediaTek announced its plans to recruit more innovation staff in India to support local manufacturing, according to PTI, although the actual number of new employees they are looking for is not disclosed.

Flexible AMOLED + On Cell display design is adopted for 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini, 6.1-inch iPhone 13, 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro and 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, according to industry sources.

Suppliers of antenna-in-package (AiP) substrates for Apple's new iPhones are gearing up for a ramp-up in demand for mmWave models, according to industry sources.

PC shipments in India hit a five-year high in the second quarter, rising 43% on year to 4.097 million units, partially because of the low base period in 2020, according to a PC market survey conducted by Canalys.

Component suppliers and assemblers have already kicked off shipments for Apple's new-generation AirPods, but the overall deliveries are proceeding slowly, according to industry sources.

In a recent interview by DIGITIMES Etron chairman Nicky Lu explains why monolithic/heterogeneous integration is important to the future of the semiconductor industry. Meanwhile Apple has increased the storage capacity of its new iPhone 13 series to up to 1TB, and memory makers believe this will prompt other smartphone brands to follow suit and equip their flagship devices with the same internal storage capacity. Backend service providers believe Apple's new iPad mini 6 will generate strong orders for 5G RF modules.

Developed by Google and Reliance Industries, JioPhone Next's launch has been postponed to November. Although there is a variety of factors behind the delay, the reality has proven more dire than Reliance has expected amid component shortages.

Unfavorable macro conditions have had a negative impact on sales of Android smartphones and have also led to uncertainty among chip suppliers about new iPhone sales for the rest of this year, according to industry sources.

Smartphone users in India acknowledge that 5G will bring more possibilities, including more IoT appliances at home, higher resolution in graphics, and higher speed in download, a CMR survey shows.

With Apple's new iPhones featuring one terabyte of storage, other brands are expected to follow suit by launching more flagship smartphones featuring at least 1TB of internal storage, according to sources at memory makers.

Apple has just unveiled its iPhone 13 series. Digitimes Research estimates that the vendor will place orders for about 90 million units of the new smartphones with its manufacturing partners for 2021, with the iPhone 13 model expected to account for the biggest portion. The IT supply chain has endured long spells of component shortages, but constraints of consumer ICs have now shown signs of easing. But notebook battery module makers are still being troubled by IC shortage, and rising costs.

Apple will place orders for around 90 million units of the freshly launched iPhone 13 series with its upstream assemblers for 2021, Digitimes Research estimates.

Apple has introduced its new iPad mini and new iPad (9th generation). The new iPad mini has a larger 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display in a new array of finishes, such as pink, starlight, purple, and space gray. The new iPad (9th generation) features the A13 Bionic chip that packs more performance and capability into the iPad, all while retaining its all-day battery life, according to the vendor.

Apple has announced Apple Watch Series 7, featuring a re-engineered always-on Retina display with significantly more screen area and thinner borders, making it the largest display ever.